


A Work in Progress

by TinyBat



Category: Captain America, Marvel Avengers Movies Universe, The Avengers (2012), Thor - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, the office plants ship Starcy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-11-24
Updated: 2013-11-17
Packaged: 2017-11-19 09:34:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/571830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TinyBat/pseuds/TinyBat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darcy Lewis: scientist caretaker extraordinaire, fearsome wielder of a modified taser, sort of college student, and pseudo government agent, is given the all important task of keeping Captain America busy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. New Assignations And Houseplant on Human Violence

Dear God her head hurt, that potted plant had exploded out of nowhere and the still groggy head of Darcy Lewis had been in the line of fire. As a result of the wayward plant experiment, Darcy was on the couch in Jane Foster's lab with a dishcloth enveloping a bag of frozen peas draped over her eyes. Jane was no longer allowed to try modifying plant DNA while the plant was still comfortably potted. A noise next to the couch prompted the now automatic Darcy-bot response.

"Any questions involving dark matter, particle fusion, black holes, time travel, and what not to do with office plant life should be directed to the slightly emaciated woman with the pencil behind her ear. Any questions regarding her schedule, getting the coffee machine in the break room to work, and avoiding any real task work should be directed to me." It covered pretty much any field of routine Jane Foster work, and it informed of Darcy's position. 

"Not right now though, i'm pretty sure my head might fall off." groaned the aching excuse for a human Darcy was considering herself. She was probably concussed and she would definitely had the beginnings of a bruise.

"What about your schedule?" inquired a very distinctly male and slightly unfamiliar voice from above her. It wasn't Clint because he would have poked her with something, not Coulson because she wasn't buried under a pile of paperwork, not Doctor Banner because the scent of freshly brewed mint tea was sadly absent. Who was it? Darcy sat up, still clutching the towel to her forehead, and looked into the slightly perplexed face of Captain America. Why was he here? Why wasn't she informed that he'd be coming? She would have completely changed her outfit and murdered Jane for indirectly bruising the majority of her forehead.

"My schedule? Capt-, Mr-, Sir-, damn...what do I call you?" stammered Darcy, reluctantly moving the peas away from her face and immediately focusing anywhere but on the unsettlingly blue eyes in front of her. The owner of said eyes scrutinized her face, smiled, and laughed quietly. He had a wonderful laugh.

"Yes, your schedule. And you can just call me Steve. Coulson seems to think I need to socialize more and made you the woman for the job. I take it from your expression that he may have neglected to let you know. Why are you holding a bag of peas to your forehead and why does it look like you went twelve rounds in a back alley?"

"My schedule revolves around making sure Jane gets at least 5 hours of sleep and 2 solid meals. Nope, Coulson didn't tell me but that's fine. I'm all for meeting new people. Sort of. Can I consider you an acquaintance? We're only meeting now but we more or less work for the same people. Less twelve rounds in a back alley, more a first round K.O. by exploding house plant. Office hazard. Jane tends to dabble in other fields if she gets bored for more than 5 minutes." 

Her head still screamed in protest but staying conscious was important, and fainting in front of Captain America wasn't on her to-do list for today. 

"I'm hoping to get through acquaintances fairly quickly, Coulson gave me paperwork, which I think really means a list." Steve waved an envelope in one hand. "Probably a bunch of things for you to show me. He's had three other agents try it, but they were less than helpful. I'm still a work in progress with the pop culture stuff and evidently listening to Tony Stark is a bad idea."

Darcy made a motion to get up, the room spun, and she fell flat on her ass. Yep, she had a concussion. She had also just fallen over in the immediate presence of the best looking man she had ever seen. If her day could get more mortifying, it probably would in the next hour or so. Darcy's Law, if an attractive man is going to be in her presence for any amount of time, weirdness will ensue. Coulson had made her the good captain's tutor, maybe she should just fling herself out the nearest window now and spare any future embarrassment. She groped for the edge of the couch and waved away Steve's hand when he moved to help her up.

"Maybe we should wait until the floor doesn't try getting up close and personal with your face. My number is in there, so just leave me a message when your head is better. I'll swing by again tomorrow. Those house plants sound like fun." He waved, gave her another once over with extra attention to her bruised forehead, and strode out. 

Darcy checked her watch. 5:00, time to feed the scientist, and if she hurried, maybe she could find another ice pack and have an internalized break down. She babysat a scientist, tried keeping up with the one class she was taking, and now she'd be spending untold amounts of time with Captain freaking America, the man every testosterone appreciating human being in the western hemisphere was plastering on their walls. Her life alternated between a really interesting dream, and a weapons grade personal nightmare. She was a work in progress too so maybe things would turn out alright.


	2. Trust Me, Trust Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just watched The Devil's Carnival last night, I figured it'd be interesting to expose Steve to Terrence and Darren's weirdness. Darcy would probably love it.
> 
> sorry this took so long. I have brief moments of productivity. i'll try to be better about it. Depression and life as usual kind of suck away my motivation to write and I have a bunch of other stuff to write as well.

Ok, Movie, check, popcorn, check, drinks of every possible variety, check. All Darcy was missing was her charge and she could start her evening. Just over a week ago she'd been attacked by a rogue, exploding houseplant and Captain America had dropped in to let her know that she'd be his Yoda in all things post-war pop culture. They'd had a few quick meetings to discuss what the three other agents he'd worked with had gone over; apparently they focused too much on war and it wasn't helpful. That was probably why Agent Coulson had given the job to her, she was a bit more wide ranging in her tastes. 

A series of 3 short knocks on the door of her broom closet apartment at 7 sharp heralded the arrival of Captain America, or Steve as he wanted to be called. He was standing there in a worn looking brown leather coat, well fitted khakis, a near perfectly fitted white t-shirt with a blue checked button down over it. Casual and a bit of a throwback, apparently he wasn't too comfortable with a more modern wardrobe. It wouldn't suit him, this was more Steve than anything else she'd seen him in; to be fair she'd only seen him in multiple variations of his uniform up until now. Clean, dirty, ripped, smoke blackened, bloodied, and tiger striped. That last one had been one Mr. Stark's more innocuous ideas of fun. 

"I'm not early am I? You said 7?" he asked nervously, scuffing his feet along the threshold of the doorway. As good as he looked, he seemed a bit awkward outside the immediate presence of an office environment. Darcy had to stop gaping at his insane shoulder to waist ratio long enough to kickstart her brain into proper human speech.

"What? Oh! Nope, 7 sharp. Sorry. Come on in!" Damn! She was already screwing up and he'd been here less than a minute. At least the movie she'd picked was a short film and weird enough that he might not want to stick around. Maybe she should have called it off before they'd agreed on a time. He was entirely too distracting. Sweet, old fashioned, good looking like you read about. This wouldn't be easy. She smiled, slammed down the brakes on the X rated fantasies playing out in her head, and gestured to the couch.

"Sit down, i'll make popcorn and we can get started. I figured we'd get the weird and underground things out of the way first. I know Stark and Barton like to mess with you so the way I see it, we should beat them to some of the more colorful stuff. How are you with musicals?" 

Steve was looking around her apartment with a smile, she had almost every inch of the dingy walls covered in posters, shelves, paintings, or photos. It made being away from anything familiar easier.

"Musicals are fine. I actually like musicals. Not the best singer but I think they're a lot of fun. How weird is weird? Art house and limbs nailed to posts weird or antique medical equipment weird?" Darcy was on her toes struggling to get the microwave popcorn off the top of her refrigerator, she was too preoccupied with trying to formulate an answer to the question to notice when he walked up behind her, grabbed the popcorn and handed it to her.

"Thanks! I don't know why I keep it up there. I'm too short to reach. Weird as in goth circus weird. Did you have Goth culture explained to you?" The popcorn went into the microwave and she turned to look at him. He nodded and his face slid from a smile to an expression of concentration. 

"Yep, popularized by music right? Or at least musically influenced. Counter culture but still sort of mainstream? Goth circus, hmm. Can't wait. I like different." That same smile crossed his lips again and he sat down on the couch while Darcy narrowly avoided burning her fingerprints off transferring the popcorn into a bowl. She slid in beside Steve and turned on the TV. This wasn't so bad, as long as she didn't start singing the evening wouldn't be a mortifying disaster.

"How long is this?" Steve inquired when the menu popped up, he grabbed a handful of popcorn and stretched his legs out. He looked like he was starting to relax, it made her feel better. The awkward guy at the door would have made this more trying than it had to be, solely because Darcy may have felt guilty about wanting to put him to a wall and do unladylike things to him.

"A little under an hour. It's a short piece, I think because the creators intend for there to be three installments. The other musical they did is longer, campier, and doesn't skimp on the gore. I didn't think it'd be a great choice to start with. A lot of the cast from that one are in this one too. It's kind of neat but it does make you wonder about continuity." Darcy's thumb hovered over the play button while she explained and when she finished, the pressed the button down and the film started.

Steve handled it well enough, he smiled when he found something amusing and if he found something distasteful he kept the expression to a minimum. He had reacted the most strongly to Tamara's storyline. He wasn't too sure why she'd go with someone like The Scorpion when he wouldn't even tell her his name. He voiced this to Darcy when the movie finished.

"I mean I understand in the context of the piece but why should she be punished for gullibility. Trusting someone is hardly worthy of punishment." he said, he looked a bit bothered. Such a nice guy would be. 

"Well, she trusted the wrong guys. There was a deleted segment where she sang with Lucifer. She trusted him too. It's so easy to get wrapped up in sweet words from a charming mouth. It's nice to just pretend that things will be okay. He was her punishment because he was exactly the sort of person she should avoid. The saddest part is that it will just keep going too." Darcy sighed, it was her favorite. She liked to think that despite making her heart a pincushion, Scorpion did like Tamara on some level. It made the lesson a bit easier to bear. The story being her favorite probably had more to do with just how attractive and charismatic the actor was in the role of Scorpion than anything else. Steve probably couldn't appreciate it on that level.

"I know it's pretty much human nature to go after the ones that aren't always winning personalities for whatever reason, but a quality like being able to trust someone is good. It just seems like the strangest choice of the three stories. Merrywood's story I completely understand, even if I thought the flogging was a bit extreme. I get John's too. I guess I just don't think it's fair." He leaned back into the couch and stared up at the ceiling, she wondered what he was thinking about.

"But did you like it? The whole piece I mean. If nothing else, the aesthetic was interesting." Darcy hoped he enjoyed at least part of it.

"Yeah! I did. I didn't get to go to the circus much before the war but we saw a few in Europe during my tour of duty. My friend Bucky decided he wanted to ride an elephant and we almost got kicked out. I say almost because he charmed the ringmaster's daughter into getting him to let us stay." He laughed, it was clearly a vivid and pleasant memory.

"Ride an elephant? Seriously?" Darcy was laughing now too, she tried imagining Steve trying to talk down his friend from atop a giant pachyderm. All seriousness.

"Mhmm, and it was probably one of the more sane things he'd set his mind to that month. The amount of times we almost got arrested before enlisting was insane. Granted, a few times he was doing me a favor and helping me out of a tight corner. The rest involved Coney Island, the wrong guys girlfriend, or some form of cheap thrill." Steve wouldn't have seemed like the type of guy who'd had wild friends but seeing him this relaxed made her rethink that assessment. She just couldn't believe he'd ever need back up.

"Back up in a tight corner? You?" She knew he was the way he was as the result of a successful lab experiment but she had a hard time reconciling the Steve next to her with a Steve that needed a hand in a fight.

"Oh yeah. Before the experiment, he was the one getting things off of shelves and refrigerators for me. I still get vertigo looking down sometimes. I'm more than a little stubborn so fights sort of found me, luckily I had him around to finish them. You would have liked him. Most modern girls would probably. He was that kind of guy."

Darcy smiled, it was gratifying to know that the fridge thing earlier wasn't a fluke. Not that he wasn't already the nicest guy she'd ever met, but knowing that he understood the irritations of being short made him even nicer.

"So, Captain Rogers. What kind of guy are you?" That just came out of her mouth. She was flirting with Captain America. That wasn't a part of her plan at all. She was supposed to watch the movie with him and then kick him out. Not flirt. Oh god, this did become a complete disaster. 

Apparently the extreme panic she was feeling was strictly internal because he looked right at her with those incredible eyes of his, smiled like he had no clue she was melting down and said "The kind of guy who wouldn't sting you for trusting him. I should go, I have an art final I need to finish for tomorrow. Coulson signed me up for classes to help me reconnect. Goodnight Darcy. Same time next week?" 

Steve got up, waved, flashed her one last smile and left, closing the door behind him. It was only after he was gone that she nodded and moved from the spot on the couch he had rooted her to. She was leaning a bit farther forward than she had been when the movie started. She clearly had no control over her body and it's urge to jump the man who'd recently vacated the space beside her. She'd just have to remember to take a cold shower before their immersion sessions.


	3. Conspicuously Absent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Darcy's Avengers Initiative/SHIELD Playlist for Steve! :D
> 
> 1\. Hold The Heathen Hammer High- Tyr (Thor)  
> -Why: self explanatory but don't call it heathen.
> 
> 2\. The Imperial March- John Williams (Director Fury)  
> -Why: Star Wars is on the itinerary and it's standard ridiculously scary boss music.
> 
> 3\. Theme From Superman- John Williams (You!)  
> -Why: Don't laugh! it's the apple pie and yes ma'am.
> 
> 4\. Another One Bites The Dust- Queen (Coulson)  
> -Why: He does an amazing Freddie Mercury!
> 
> 5\. King of Anything- Sara Bareilles (Pepper)  
> -Why: Because everyone knows she lets Tony pretend he's in charge.
> 
> 6\. I Am The Doctor- Murray Gold (Tony)  
> -Why: He's a big nerd. Doctor Who is on the itinerary too.
> 
> 7\. People Are Strange- The Doors (Bruce)  
> -Why: He's a little introverted and he's a big fan of the band.
> 
> 8\. She's a Genius- Jet (Natasha)  
> -Why: This one's also self explanatory. She's fabulous! And a little bit intimidating.
> 
> 9\. Everybody Loves Me- OneRepublic (Clint)  
> -Why: He gets this way sometimes and it's mostly true.
> 
> 10\. She Blinded Me With Science- Thomas Dolby (Jane)  
> -Why: You remember the houseplant right?

After 3 hours of extensive searching, much complaining to thin air, and drumming of fingers on her desk, Darcy finished the project she'd been working on for Steve. He'd texted her this morning to ask if she wanted to get coffee instead of doing a movie, he'd buy if she showed up. She of course said yes, never being one to turn down free coffee. Since Steve was being a gentleman, Darcy opted to return the favor and made him a mix CD to go in the ridiculous stereo system Clint and Tony had picked out for him. She was very proud of it and excited for the change in their routine; a breather from Steve in the confines of her apartment was good. She wouldn't be as tempted to fly across the space between them and jump on him. 

The CD would give them something to talk about and she'd get an idea for what sort of music she should introduce him to. She had backed the list up onto her phone so they could listen while they talked. She'd taken care to make the songs a little bit fun and tongue in cheek, lest it become a "Mix CD" with a capital "M" of the less than platonic nature. It was a little playlist to remind him of the people they worked and occasionally played with. She wished she had a personal JARVIS to help her, it had been a chore going through the mind boggling amount of music she owned. 

After last week and the weirdness she'd gotten off the good captain as he left, open air would be good. Darcy didn't want to put too much thought into his kindness to her; he was a good guy but for a split second after the movie ended if felt like he was venturing out of "nice" territory and into "flirting with the mess on the other end of the couch" territory. Dangerous ground to be on, maybe she'd talk to Jane and get her thoughts on it if it didn't seem like a fluke.

Either way, she had a Steve to meet and re-examined every inch of her outfit and ounce of make up before texting him her ETA. A train ride and 5 minute stroll later she was greeted by Steve with a sketch pad and two cups of coffee at a window seat in an out of the way coffee joint. It was warm and smelled like baking pastries and brewing coffee. Exactly her kind of place. Steve's too apparently and that knowledge just re-enforced how much she liked him.

"Hey you!" called Darcy, making her way over and sliding into a seat next to him. "Nice place."

"Hey yourself. Yeah, it's nice to get out and I figured a change of scenery would do us a little good." Steve grinned and pushed a steaming mug her way. "Black with two sugars. I just sort of pictured you and ordered what I thought you'd like."

"And you'd be right. You sit through indie weirdness and buy me coffee? Wow Rogers, you know how to make a girl smile." Darcy tried the coffee and shivered, it was perfect and helped to combat the chill from the brief walk from the subway.

"It's cold out there. It takes a little getting used to. I'm a warm weather girl by choice but then Thor happened and now i'm here. Thank you Coulson." She put the mug down but kept her fingers wrapped around it, her fingers were still freezing. Steve's expression became strange for a moment before he settled into something that for him meant sarcasm was on it's way.

"Well isn't Agent Coulson doing you all sorts of favors. Dragging you out of New Mexico to work for S.H.I.E.L.D and giving you the relic to babysit." Steve twirled a finger between his fingers, seemingly doing it on reflex. Darcy wondered if he was capable of stillness for prolonged periods.

"Well, going between desk jockey and grueling work out girl isn't so bad. Babysitting the relic does kinda suck though. He's grouchy, stubborn, and never smiles." cheeked Darcy, bringing the steaming mug to her lips again. It froze halfway to her mouth when Steve turned to look at her, mirth and an unhealthy amount of mischief dancing in his eyes.

"Incapable of smiling? Wow. He sounds like a real charmer. Tell you what, Darcy. I'll pick the movie tonight. We aren't far from the office and i'm sure Tony has some huge TV we can use. I'll show you something that makes me smile." He stood up and strode over to the door, opening it for Darcy to exit and he turned to look at her.

"You gonna be good to walk? I don't feel cold much anymore but you probably do." He sounded slightly concerned and looked around for a cab to hail.

"I'm fine. Let's go. Oh, right! Before I forget, I made you something!" Darcy dug around in her purse as they set off and handed him the cd she'd spent most of her day on. Steve took it and examined the bright colors and tiny doodles before he got to the songs.

"So, there's one for everyone we work with but no you?" He looked down at her curiously and she averted her eyes slightly. More direct eye contact would probably make her panties and key reproductive organs explode. 

"Well, I made it. I didn't think to put myself on there. Besides, i'm just kind of around, I don't get to do the cool stuff yet." she fiddled with the hem of her jacket and fought down the urge to bite her lip, it was a habit she was trying to break. Coulson wanted her able to do the cool stuff but she had to be able to jog without wheezing first.

"I dunno, you're keeping me current and you're really good at it. That's definitely cool. I'll find a song for you." They approached the Stark Industries/S.H.I.E.L.D satellite office and once again, Steve opened the door. Darcy grabbed her keycard and swiped it, allowing them both into the employee elevator. Pressing the button for the top floor, she put her card away and leaned against the back wall to wait.

"So, you're picking the movie and you're finding me a song? You trying to steal my job?" Darcy playfully elbowed him in the ribs, wondering how much impact it'd have. The serum made some major alterations and she didn't think it'd be prudent to ask if it changed how physical force felt.

Steve pulled a face and spasmed slightly, grinning and then turning his head away so Darcy wouldn't notice. She did, and elbowed him again; prompting the same reaction.

"Steve? You aren't ticklish are you?" She peered up and around to meet his eyes, he was pointedly avoiding her and his cheeks were flushed pink in a way that was absolutely adorable. The sensible part of her brain was raging at the slowness of the elevator because a Steve amenable to being poked in the ribs in an enclosed space might be bad. Defiling an American hero and national treasure in an elevator would open up a special level of Hell just for her.

"Nope, not at all. Why'd you say that?" Steve pulled his jacket in closer to him and was still fighting to keep a huge grin off his face. It was probably just encouraging her, not that it'd be a bad thing. 

"Just wanted to check. It's one of those unfortunate weaknesses us regular Joes have to deal with. I'm sure big, strong, super soldiers like yourself don't get ticklish." teased the small brunette. She was having far too much fun, and Steve hadn't stopped her yet.

"Well Miss Lewis, I'd hardly call you regular. And you're welcome to continue your line of questioning. Though i'll have you know i'm a hard man to break. So if you think you can get answers out of me, you're wrong." The reply was tinged with faux seriousness, he liked this game. It was a shame that when Darcy slipped her hands in his jacket and began mercilessly tickling him, the elevator opened and the hysterically laughing pair were faced with a highly flummoxed but smirking Pepper Potts.

"Captain Rogers, Miss Lewis. I take it you're here to continue your briefings. Tony's tv is open, I think he and Doctor Banner are trying to breed talking spiders so you're fine until midnight at least." was the crisp statement out of the unflappable Miss Potts. She was the consummate professional and it was only once Steve and Darcy left the elevator, still grinning but with hands to themselves that Darcy's phone beeped.

Darcy,  
Get the jacket off him and try again. Not in the elevator next time. JARVIS has cameras in there. Good luck ;)  
-Pepper

Stifling an obscene giggle with her sleeve, Darcy shoved her phone in her pocket as Steve tried to look at the screen. He could have taken it if he wanted, he was still running on adrenaline and his mouth hurt from smiling as hard as he did. But getting an arm around Darcy might be more trouble than it'd be worth, even if he was pretty sure she'd be fine with it.

"So, I interrogated you and got the answer I wanted. How about one I need. What am I being subjected to?" Aware that her phone was in danger, Darcy stepped away from Steve as they made their way to Tony's viewing room. 

"You are being subjected to a favorite movie of mine. Pepper found a copy for me, and you can't laugh! I didn't laugh at the horror show you picked, even if i'm grateful. Tony says this one kind of infringes on my manhood but I think he's full of it." The tinted glass door to the room slid aside and Steve strode over to an embarrassingly large collection of dvds. Darcy thought she'd died and gone to cinematic heaven, this was way better than her crappy apartment could ever be. 

"Why the hell have we been in my apartment when Stark has this here? Wow. I think I might be a little bit dead. Pinch me so I can make sure i'm not." While Darcy gaped in awe, Steve had found what he was looking for and popped in the dvd player. Seeing that Darcy was bordering catatonic out of sheer wonderment, he gently grabbed her wrist and dragged her to one of the many oversized leather chairs littering the room.

"Well, Stark has a taste for grandeur and I like your apartment. No one can barge in covered in smoke, or cause controlled detonations. It's very chaos free." The reminder of their first official meeting made them both smile and Steve settled into a chair next to Darcy. He looked like a child at the fair. All enthusiasm and joy. The credits rolled appeared, The Philadelphia Story, and the names impressed Darcy. Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, and Jimmy Stewart. 

Unsurprisingly, Darcy took a tremendous liking to Tracy Lord, the heroine of the piece. She was feisty, sharp, and unwilling to compromise on what she wanted; she was very modern. She had a harder time deciding which of the two male leads she liked best. Cary Grant was Cary Grant, everybody likes Cary Grant. But Jimmy Stewart was a surprisingly good romantic option, she'd seen Harvey as a child and had only thought of him alongside an invisible rabbit until now. Cary Grant won out as soon as he showed up with a drink for Katharine Hepburn's character to help with her hangover. Steve was the happiest she'd ever seen him. It was his sort of movie, funny, smart, slightly sentimental, and not too serious. She could see why he loved it.

"Well I don't think that infringed upon your manhood at all. I loved it Steve, good choice. Tracy was awesome! Her growth and willingness to show a little humility was something special. But she didn't change completely and that's cool. But I think it was helped by knowing that Dexter loved her anyway and never stopped loving her." Lounging with her legs swinging over the arm of the chair, she pulled her hair back off of her face and straightened her glasses.

" She didn't need to dial any part of herself down for him and she would have had to become a whole new person for George or Mike. Mike was better with Liz anyway." Steve listened intently to her and seemed thrilled that she'd enjoyed the movie as much as he had.

"Liz actually reminds me of Pepper. Patient, reliable and waiting for Tony to get it. She's on top of everything all the time and is just waiting for things to click. He knows like Mike did on some level that Pepper is special and they show it, but making that next step is tricky. " Steve retrieved the dvd and placed it back in it's spot on the shelf. He then helped Darcy to her feet, despite her groans of protest.

"Can't I just live here? I could live in that chair. I don't need a bed!" She gave her best pout and sat back down. Darcy wanted to see if she could get Steve to touch her. Trying to get him to kiss her was light years away but tricking him into touching her might speed that process along. 

"No Darcy, you can't live here. I've already asked for myself. Now come on." Shaking his head, Steve bent down and picked Darcy up out of the chair like she was a small child. Her expression of surprise was adorable until it morphed into something more devious and she managed to get his jacket off of him. He almost dropped her in surprise but the sudden shift in weight had them both half on top of the chair and she was tickling him again. She was quick! 

"I'm going to live here and you and Stark won't be able to stop me. Now put me back!" An enormous grin was threatening to split Steve's face as he tried fending her off, she hardly weighed a thing but she played dirty and pinned his hands over his head. The moment would later hit Steve as the moment he knew he wanted Darcy as his own; but for now she was the fiery girl with the infectious laugh beating the super solider in a physical bout. 

"I will if you get off of me. You don't play fair. Really Darcy, I would have expected better from you." He shifted the laughing girl off of him, stood up, picked her up again and dropped her unceremoniously back on her chair.

"Hey Mr. Super Powers! Fair is over-rated. You were the one who tried to move me from my new home. Us internet dwelling caffeine junkies very territorial! You're lucky I didn't bite you!" smirked a highly satisfied Darcy, sticking her tongue out at the soldier, who was midway through retrieving his jacket from behind the chair. 

"So you bite and tickle? Do you shoot poison or anything else like that? Did Coulson assign you to this job to kill me? Am I too antiquated to be effective?" With jacket in hand, Steve had an expression of mock hurt than sent them both careening back into laughter. 

"Well damn, you caught us! I was planning to bust out something super classy like crushing your windpipe with my thighs. For real though, Coulson probably thought this was a good idea because I have the most free time and he probably stalks my Tumblr. I know way too much about pop culture." Darcy stretched out in her chair and closed her eyes.

"I'm not kidding, I could totally live here." She yawned and turned onto her side. "Which probably means I should go. That mix of yours took awhile to figure out and besting the mighty Captain America in single combat can take it out of a girl. I need to go do the food thing. Do you have plans?"

"I do actually, last minute class registry. Brett Hendrick is a slacker who occasionally shows up late to class in sweatpants, and passes only on luck. I swear Coulson made my civilian cover lazy just to annoy me. Otherwise i'd love to grab dinner with you." Steve slid his jacket over his shoulders and fixed his shirt. Darcy had done a number on it, not that he'd complain. He was genuinely sad about the fact that he had to pass up the opportunity to get dinner with her, she'd been the best company he'd had all week. That included the team, the stray kitten that seemed to have made it's way into his apartment, and the little kid on the third floor that he played catch with yesterday. 

"Brett Hendrick sounds like approximately 100% of my ex boyfriends. I don't think I could ever see you as anyone but clean cut, down home, sweet as pie Captain Rogers. You must be a hell of an actor." Reluctantly Darcy got up and they wandered out into the hallway to await an elevator.

"Well i'm no Cary Grant but I don't think i'm too bad. Why don't we meet at my place next week. Bring whatever you like, as long as you know something about kittens. I seem to have a new roommate. I know that it likes shoelaces, sleeping in my clean laundry, and eating things on my bookshelf. That's about it." They stepped inside and Darcy squealed with glee. Steve with a kitten was entirely too much for her to handle. All of her reproductive organs exploded at once from the hormone surge.

"I can definitely do that. We're watching Star Wars so plan accordingly. You're in for awesome!" The elevator ride back down was faster than the ride up to their mutual disappointment. Steve waited with Darcy as she flagged a cab, and smiled as she waved goodbye.

"Text me about your classes, and I want a picture of the kitten. No excuses!" Steve saluted with more sarcasm than she had ever seen in a single gesture and nodded. Once the cab pulled away from the building and Steve was out of sight, Darcy shoved her purse into her face and screamed for a few seconds. He really was just too much for her and she was so very screwed. This was going to be fun.


	4. I Used To Dream About It

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd apologize for not updating this in over a year but i'm not sure an apology would be adequate. Life got in the way. Just know that there's a kitten in this chapter and it's a two parter because I have a thing about Star Wars.

Darcy's excitement levels when Star Wars was involved tended to border on indecent, but her excitement about it when it involved Steve should involve sedatives. It shouldn't be legal to be this excited about anything. Darcy was young enough that she'd missed the initial release but caught the special edition releases and VHS box set at a point where it heavily influenced her formative years. She wouldn't admit it publicly but her choice of a poli-sci major had been inspired by her strong desire to be even an iota as cool as Princess Leia. Part of her wanted to call Steve and tell him that they should steal Stark's media room for this particular viewing but two in a row could be dangerous, since they had ended all over each other in the elevator and on the floor. Besides, she wanted to see Steve's apartment and she had a pair of huge woolly socks she never wore that she wanted to give to the kitten.

He'd sent her a picture of the kitten after his final, it was a little dark gray fuzzball with blue eyes that Steve had named Barnes after his elephant riding friend. To give her an example of scale, he'd gotten Barnes to stand next to one of his boots, Barnes was probably the runt of the litter, if cats had runts. Steve was huge though so maybe the kitten was normal and his feet were enormous. Darcy had to put her phone down and walk away for a second in order to break that dangerous train of thought before replying. 

Screw the schedule, i'm coming over with my dvds and i'm going to ignore you because small fuzzy animals are the most important thing ever. Be there in 30!-Darcy

As long as I get a hello first. See you soon.- Steve

The fact that Steve enjoyed texting as much as he did had really taken Darcy aback at first. When she asked why, he'd simply said that instant communication made him happy, because it made everyone easier to keep tabs on, even if Stark, Barton, and occasionally Romanoff kept sending him porn. Before Darcy could steal his phone to see whatever the fearsome Agent Romanoff sent, he'd distracted her with questions on why she'd chosen to work for SHIELD and that started an hour long rant on property theft, iPods, and careless SHIELD agents ruining her shoes. As opposed to scrutinizing every aspect of her appearance like she would on other occasions, the seriousness with which she was taking the Star Wars de-virginization of Steve Rogers meant that she'd much rather him pay attention to the movie. She could recite the originals back to front, so that left her with the kitten while Steve got a crash course in Joseph Campbell. She made a note in the cab not to bring up how the movies could be seen as a metaphor for World War II, as it was only something she felt comfortable letting him broach.

Realizing that she had the address to the building but not the apartment number only occurred once the cab fare paid. Whipping out her phone, Darcy began to text Steve but the door opened and a little kid came out, Steve following him. There wasn't much to the kid, he was more football jersey, and toothy grin than limbs and it made Darcy's heart melt. "Am I being stood up? 'Cause I can just call another cab." she called out, waving. Steve brought the kid over and made introductions. "Darcy, this is Max, Max this is Darcy, she's the scariest person I know. Max and his mom know a ton about cats and he was explaining how I could get Barnes to leave my shoes alone." Steve said, waving as Max nodded and muttered that he had to go back inside.

"I hope he's left your work boots alone at least." Darcy said, smiling. They went inside and Darcy wasn't at all surprised to find that this wasn't a modern building. An older woman nodded at them, her expression a little more knowing than Darcy liked, and she only touched on it when Steve shut the door to his apartment, and they hung up their jackets. "Your neighbor downstairs. She knows who you are, doesn't she?"

"You'd be surprised how many older people do, none of them will say anything though. It's a little weird but i'm very appreciative of it. To the rest of the building, i'm Brett. I have loud friends, i'm not all that ambitious, and I don't do much. I hope it doesn't come across as egotistical when I say that it's kind of nice to have someone here who knows me. Keeping a cover kind of a pain." Anything further Steve had to say was interrupted by a very insistent chirruping from floor level, Darcy immediately shoved the dvds into Steve's hands and sat herself down on the floor to say hello to his roommate.

"So, this is Barnes. I thought you were kidding, he _is_ tiny. Hello cutie! Oh my gosh look at you! You're my new favorite thing ever!" Darcy cooed, helping the kitten as it struggled to crawl up into her lap. Steve laughed, bending down to scratch the kitten behind the ears. "And he's already got you charmed, I knew that was the right name for him. Loud mouthed punk." he said, grinning as the little kitten did his best to climb up onto Darcy's shoulder. "Steve I swear to god, I think I like the cat more than I like you." Darcy said, letting him help her to her feet slowly enough to not dislodge the fuzzy explorer.

"Then I guess i'd better work a little harder. I've been told this is a popcorn movie, so if you go get the movie set up, i'll do that. Barnes gets near the cabinets and everything just goes to hell. He's all trouble." Steve glared at the kitten, who let out a squeak of indignation as Darcy walked over to Steve's TV. "Aww munchkin, don't listen to him, he doesn't know what he's talking about. You are just the sweetest little guy." She opened the cabinet she assumed housed the dvd player and took a moment to peruse Steve's collection. Most of the movies in there, they'd talked about, and a few she knew he hadn't seen. Filing the information away for later, she found the on button, and popped the dvd in. "Rogers, get in here or we're starting without you!" she called, getting up and settling herself comfortably on the massive couch. She knew Thor and Steve liked to hang out, both of them feeling displaced so it made sense that Steve's couch would be massive and it was going to take a lot of willpower not to sink into it and fall asleep. 

Any thoughts of sleeping in this apartment, with the owner of the apartment being present and close by were dispersed by Barnes, who'd taken his position on her shoulder very seriously and was using it to paw at whatever parts of her face he could reach. He was a little grey sentinel and she wondered how effective the little kitten would be as a guard, maybe she could get someone in R&D to make him an outfit. Darcy picked him up with one hand and held him out in front of her, kissing the top of his head and setting him back in her lap. "I'm definitely going to have to work harder now. He might as well be Bucky, I swear I can't tell the difference sometimes. At least Bucky didn't try to nap in my shoes even if he did get sick in them once and it was exactly as disgusting as it sounds. The French Resistance were tough as hell, and he had this thing about challenges. Ow!" Barnes had launched himself at the hand not holding the bowl of popcorn, chewing enthusiastically on the sleeve of Steve's sweatshirt.

"How about we get started and i'll see what I can do about un-attaching him. He likes you about as much as you like him, and now I think he doesn't like me at all." Steve placed the popcorn between the two of them and Darcy pressed the play button on the remote, getting more amusement out of Steve trying to gently remove the cat from his arm than the THX logo. "Okay, here's where you need to start paying attention, there'll be a quiz later." Darcy said poking the Barnes-free portion of Steve's right arm, and the movie began.


End file.
